Samsung Announces 860 DCT, 883 DCT, 983 DCT, 983 ZET Datacenter SSDs

At a recent event in New York, Samsung recently updated their datacenter SSD lineup with four new models including the Samsung 860 DCT, Samsung 883 DCT, Samsung 983 DCT, and Samsung 983 ZET.

In their DCT based SSD lineup, Samsung will launch three SSDs, the 860 DCT, 883 DCT and 983 DCT.

At the entry level, the Samsung 860 DCT is Samsung’s offering for read-heavy applications. The drive features capacities up to 4TB, 0.2 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) endurance and utilizes Samsung’s 3-bit MLC V-NAND process. According to Samsung, the Samsung 860 DCT is well suited for applications such as streaming servers, content [...]

Read More

April 26, 2018

Samsung 970 EVO Review (500GB)

The New M.2 NVMe Price/Performance Champ

Nearly two years ago, Samsung launched their Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO to major fanfare. These two juggernaut introductions in addition to their enterprise cousins further established Samsung’s position as the undisputed leader in M.2 form-factor NVMe SSDs. At the time, the industry had been facing a massive shortage of NAND which slowed down product introductions across the board, but as NAND supply has finally begun stabilizing, companies are now finally introducing some new products to once again reignite demand.

Recently, Samsung launched the Samsung 970 EVO and the Samsung 970 PRO which will replace the aging Samsung 960 [...]

Read More

March 14, 2018

OnePlus 5T Review

Introduction

Back in 2013, OnePlus jumped into the smartphone scene with a bang, introducing their OnePlus One smartphone, which quickly distinguished itself by offering flagship class smartphone features at a pricepoint of just $299. Thanks to massive community support, OnePlus was able to quickly build a name for itself as the enthusiast class smartphone with the best value possible.

Fast forward to June 2017 and OnePlus has continued this tradition of delivering flagship class smartphones at very reasonable prices. The OnePlus 5 featured all the latest and greatest hardware including a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, [...]

Read More

January 24, 2018

AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC Review

Quiet and Beautiful

AVADirect wasn’t really a systems builder on our radar until late last year when we reviewed their Avant Mini Cube Gaming PC. After extensive testing, we found that the system was well configured, well built, and well priced, quickly propelling AVADirect to the top as one of our favorite custom PC builders.

Recently, AVADirect sent us another one of the systems in their lineup, the AVADirect X370 Quiet Gaming PC, which as its name implies is AVADirect’s quiet gaming PC offering based on AMD’s X370 Ryzen platform.

Razer’s Project Linda Turns Your Razer Phone into a Laptop PC

Razer is demoing its newest concept design, Project Linda, at CES 2018. Razer’s project Linda aims to leverage the power of the Razer Phone and instantly transforms it into an Android based laptop PC. The concept is similar to the Windows Dock or the Samsung DeX Station, but rather than dock to a desktop PC, Project Linda seamlessly docks the phone right into the laptop.

The way it works is that the Razer Phone docks in face-up position where the touchpad would normally be found. This allows the phone to be used as the touchpad and the phone’s forward facing onboard speakers serve as speakers for the system as well. Having the phone in a face-up position [...]

Read More

January 5, 2018

Samsung Reveals 34-inch QLED Thunderbolt 3 Monitor

Samsung has added another massive panel to its curved display lineup. The 34-inch CJ791 is the first in the family to feature Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

In addition to feeding display information, Thunderbolt’s increased bandwidth allows the CJ791 to function as a dock. This means that all your peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and webcams can be connected to the monitor instead of your laptop over a single cable. This offers great convenience for on-the-go users who need to frequently move their laptops from the desk. The Thunderbolt 3 interface also provides up to 85W of laptop charging power.

If you’ve been surprised by the massive surge in RAM pricing lately, you’re not alone. China is now closely monitoring DRAM prices, hinting that it’s possibly looking to conduct an investigation for price fixing. Xu Xinyu, an official of China’s National Development and Reform Commission’s Pricing Supervision Department, stated:

“We have noticed the price surge and will pay more attention to future problems that may be caused by ‘price fixing’ in the sector”

The officials didn’t specifically mention which major manufacturers will be scrutinized, but the according to Wang Yanhui, Secretary General of the Mobile China Alliance, NDRC [...]

Read More

December 20, 2017

Samsung Mass Producing 2nd Gen 10nm-Class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM

Samsung has begun mass producing their 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 DRAM. According to the announcement, the new Samsung 2nd Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4 features speeds up to 3,600 Mbps per pin, which provides around 10% improved performance and 15% improved power efficiency compared to 1st Generation 10nm-class 8Gb DDR4.

In order to achieve the improved performance and power efficiency, Samsung developed a new high-sensitivity cell data sensing system which allows a more accurate determination of data stored within a data cell along with a unique “air spacer” design which helps dramatically decrease parasitic capacitance.

“By developing [...]

Read More

December 26, 2017

The Best Black Friday 2017 Deals [Expired]

For all the readers living in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you get all the food, drink and of course plenty of Black Friday shopping after!

Today and for the next 48 hours, we’ll be scouring the internet for the best Black Friday deals on technology, computer hardware, and other generally awesome deals you may want to check out. We’ll keep this post updated with all the latest deals, so check back often!

Samsung in Talks to Purchase 10 EUV Production Machines from ASML

In a recent article, Business Korea reports that Samsung is in talks with ASML to purchase 10 EUV production machines at a cost of $176.52 million each.

As semiconductor production processes shrinks below the recently introduced 8nm LPP process, printing chips with the current photochemical etching techniques will become much more difficult resulting in the need for the new EUV production process. Samsung has been aggressively developing chips utilizing EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) etching technology as they plan on starting production of chips using the 7nm EUV process as early as 2018.